The present invention relates to pinball games and, in particular, to ball kicker apparatus for such games.
The present invention is an improvement of the kicker apparatuses disclosed in application Ser. No. 338,314, filed Jan. 11, 1982 and entitled "Horizontally Movable Kicker for Pin Ball Game", and in application Ser. No. 409,411, filed Aug. 19, 1982, entitled "Wide Face Horizontally Movable Kicker for Pin Ball Game". Both of these applications disclose kicker apparatus of the type wherein a rolling pinball actuates a solenoid to drive a kicker member into horizontally reciprocating movement along a track for kicking engagement with the pinball. However, these kicker apparatuses are capable of kicking the pinball in only a single predetermined direction and are not controllable by the player.
It is known to provide rotating apparatus for propelling a pinball in varying directions. Thus, in application Ser. No. 326,172, filed Nov. 30, 1981, U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,664 issued Mar. 20, 1984 and entitled "Pin Ball Game with Oscillating Shooter", there is disclosed an automatically continuously oscillating shooter mechanism which includes a socket for receiving a spent pinball and a player-controlled actuating means for ejecting the pinball from the socket when the shooter is pointed in the desired direction. But the oscillating mechanism is not controllable by the player, and the device is adapted for ejecting a pinball from a socket and is not adapted for use as a kicker mechanism in a pinball game.